Royidris

Royidris
R. robertsoni worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Royidris Bolton & Fisher, 2014
Type species
Monomorium robertsoni Heterick, 2006
Diversity[1]
11 species

Royidris is a Malagasy genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Described in 2014, the genus contains 15 species endemic to Madagascar.^[2]

Description

Queens are known for R. admixta, R. diminuta, R. notorthotenes, R. peregrina, and R. shuckardi, plus two unassociated forms. Alate when virgin, considerably larger than the worker. Males are known only for R. notorthotenes and R. peregrina. About the same size as the worker or slightly smaller, much smaller than the queen.^[2]

Taxonomy

The species included in this genus exhibit a habitus that is convergent on some groups of Monomorium. In his study of the Afrotropical members of that genus Bolton (1987) noted two indeterminate Madagascan species which had a high palp formula (5,3), the highest attributed to Monomorium, but did no further analysis of these odd species because the focus of the survey was the extensive Afrotropical fauna. Heterick (2006), in his revision of the Malagasy species of Monomorium, recognised the peculiarity of the high palp formula and utilised it, together with some other characters, to define his M. shuckardi group, all members of which are now transferred to Royidris. No unambiguous apomorphy can be stated for Royidris, and in fact its habitus is similar to that commonly seen in Monomorium.^[2]

Species

admixta group Vitsika admixta Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika depilosa Bolton & Fisher, 2014 robertsoni group Vitsika anxietas Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika clarinodis (Heterick, 2006) Vitsika pallida Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika pulchra Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika robertsoni (Heterick, 2006)

notorthotenes group Vitsika diminuta Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika etiolata Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika gravipuncta Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika longiseta Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika notorthotenes (Heterick, 2006) Vitsika peregrina Bolton & Fisher, 2014 Vitsika shuckardi (Forel, 1895) Vitsika singularis Bolton & Fisher, 2014

References

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1. Bolton, B. (2014). "Royidris". AntCat. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
2. Bolton, Barry; Fisher, Brian L. (2014), "The Madagascan endemic myrmicine ants related to Eutetramorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): taxonomy of the genera Eutetramorium Emery, Malagidris nom. n., Myrmisaraka gen. n., Royidris gen. n., and Vitsika gen. n.", Zootaxa 3791 (1): 1–99, doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3791.1.1

• Bolton, B. (1987) "A review of the Solenopsis genus-group and revision of Afrotropical Monomorium Mayr." Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology), 54, 263–452.
• Heterick, B.E. (2006) "A revision of the Malagasy ants belonging to genus Monomorium Mayr, 1855." Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 57, 69–202.

• This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Bolton, Barry; Fisher, Brian L. (2014), "The Madagascan endemic myrmicine ants related to Eutetramorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): taxonomy of the genera Eutetramorium Emery, Malagidris nom. n., Myrmisaraka gen. n., Royidris gen. n., and Vitsika gen. n.", Zootaxa 3791 (1): 1–99, doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3791.1.1 Please check the source for the exact licensing terms.